Jeremiah 41:10

Even the king’s daughters. — We find in Jeremiah 39:6 that the sons of Zedekiah were slain at Riblah. The daughters (the word was probably used generally for all the princesses of the royal house) were spared, and consigned to the protection of Gedaliah. In taking possession of them, Ishmael was asserting, after the fashion of the East, his claim as the representative of the royal house. The Ammonites had been in alliance with Zedekiah (Jeremiah 27:3), and Ishmael reckoned on finding a safe refuge with them. It would seem, indeed, from Jeremiah 40:14, that he had been sent, or was believed to have been sent, by the king of the Ammonites for the very purpose of the murder of Gedaliah.